Highway funding cuts could hamper Oklahoma's road building efforts

<br>OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Cuts in federal highway funding could hamper Oklahoma's road construction programs next year, a state transportation official said Monday. <br><br>The Federal Highway Administration

Tuesday, February 19th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Cuts in federal highway funding could hamper Oklahoma's road construction programs next year, a state transportation official said Monday.

The Federal Highway Administration notified the state that it could lose more than $110 million in funding, Gary Ridley, director of the Oklahoma Transportation Department, said.

Mary Peters, administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, wrote in a letter to the department that while the nation reaped the benefits of record funding for road projects under the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, the economic downturn will mean less money for projects in fiscal year 2003.

Oklahoma received $428.3 million in federal highway funds this year, but the latest projections show the state receiving $318 million next year, which could delay a number of road projects, Ridley said.

The reduction would affect the federal Grant Anticipation Revenue Vehicle, or Garvee, program, which permits states to use federal money to pay off road construction bonds if the projects enhance the economic development of an area.

Oklahoma transportation officials have programmed $1 billion in road projects to be financed by the Garvee program, and were preparing to issue the first $100 million in Garvee bonds.

The bonds were supposed to go toward rebuilding the Interstate 44-Broadway Extension (U.S. 77) interchange in Oklahoma City and the widening of I-44 from the Arkansas River to Yale Avenue in Tulsa.

The Oklahoma Transportation Department had planned to pay off the Garvee bonds in 10 years, but that may be extended to 20 years. Doing so will increase the amount the state pays to retire the bond debt, said Mike Patterson, comptroller for the Transportation Department.

``There's no two ways about it,'' said Tom Love, chairman of the Oklahoma Transportation Commission. ``The ground is shifting. For sure it is going to stretch out Garvee.''

Other Garvee projects include constructing the Broadway Extension-Memorial Road interchange, four-laning U.S. 70 from its intersection with Interstate 35, east to the Bryan County-Choctaw County line; four-laning State Highway 183 from its intersection with U.S. 70, north to Cordell, and widening U.S. 70 to four lanes from Idabel west to the Indian Nation Turnpike.

Other construction projects also will be affected by the drop in federal funds, Ridley said.

The cuts in federal funding come at a time when the Transportation Department has been trying to get more state money for road maintenance.

Losing federal funds and a decrease of state funds will be a ``double whammy'' for the Transportation Department, Ridley said.

Gov. Frank Keating is proposing $49.8 million less for the Transportation Department in his budget proposal.

The agency doesn't need money in the coming year to pay the debt service on bonds in the $1 billion state road program, the state finance office said.